Lap cheong (腊肠, Cantonese: lap cheung, Mandarin: la chang) are the sweet, intensely flavoured, dried Chinese pork sausages that are one of the most distinctive flavouring ingredients in Chinese cooking. They are made from minced pork and pork fat, seasoned with soy sauce, Shaoxing rice wine, sugar (which makes lap cheong sweeter than most Western sausages), and salt, stuffed into natural casings, and hung to dry and cure in the winter months. The drying and natural fermentation process (the sugars ferment slightly in the sausage) develops a concentrated, complex flavour — sweet, slightly wine-like, deeply savoury — that is distinct from any Western sausage. Lap cheong is used as a flavouring ingredient in lo mai gai (lotus leaf glutinous rice), clay pot rice (bao zai fan), fried rice, and numerous other Cantonese preparations.
Lap cheong varieties: Standard pork lap cheong (猪肉腊肠) — the most common, sweet and savoury. Liver lap cheong (猪润肠) — made with pork liver added to the pork mixture, richer and more robustly flavoured. Duck liver sausage (鸭润肠) — more delicate. Liver sausages pair with plain lap cheong in traditional clay pot rice presentations. Cooking lap cheong: Lap cheong is always cooked before eating — it is used raw only as a flavouring addition to dishes that will cook for a long time (such as lo mai gai). The most common preparation is steaming — place lap cheong on rice during the last 10 minutes of cooking. The steam cooks the sausage and the rendered fat drips into the rice. Alternatively, slice on the bias and stir-fry. Storage: Lap cheong keeps at room temperature in a cool, dry place for 2-3 months. Refrigerated up to 6 months. Freezing maintains quality for 1 year.
Eileen Yin-Fei Lo, Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking (2009); Fuchsia Dunlop, Land of Fish and Rice (2016)